elizabeth waters lymon obituary

Though this success was short-lived, Lymon on a personal level was apparently quite the boy who couldnt say no. She told Span that she never recovered financially from the loss of her home and still feels "cheated." Despite hearing that Emira had changed her mind, Ronnie maintained faith in their original agreement and ordered a headstone from a company in North Arlington, New Jersey. ", "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" was part of the American Graffiti film soundtrack and album, a big pop hit single and album for Diana Ross in 1981, and had been used in a greeting card commercial. He told Zola that the new guest was a friend from New York, Zola recalled. However, it turned out she had been married to someone else at the time. The small wedding party celebrated by getting very drunk, not an uncommon state for Frankie at the time. "He had been busted in California again for drugs." In January 1964, he began a relationship with Elizabeth Mickey Waters, from whom he gave birth to his only daughter Francine, who died two days later. She did not object when he decided to head for California in 1965. "If you have any kind of heart at all," she said, "you know that he went through hell.". Taylor,. Lymon signed with both 20th Century Fox Records and Columbia Records, but both deals were short-lived. She claimed to have . Costumes Elisabetta Beraldo. ", Like the jazz and blues artists before them, the rock and rollers of the 1950s and 1960s were often ripe for rip-offs, and royalties were underestimated or simply never paid. According to Span, Rubin was not opposed to generating new income from old music. The Lymon she knew was more of a homebody than a homeboy--someone so different than the man the other two women married that, as someone sarcastically comments, it seems like anything in a skirt was Frankies type.. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon said. Mays Mortuary, 1221 James Brown Blvd. They wanted to impress their friends in school by being on the radio. The Teenagers tried recording on their own, with a new lead singer. By 1964 he was using again, and she was hiding the money from his occasional gigs in a hole in the wall of their apartment to keep him from buying heroin with it. Zola and Elizabeth declined, but said they were willing to accept an equal, three-way split. They became lovers, Zola testified, one night in Bangor, Maine, when Frankie had won $1,700 gambling with Clyde McPhatter and she had gotten "a little loaded drinking scotch and water." A pop record seemed disposable then, before the rise of the nostalgia industry. Kids didnt know about royalties said Bob Hyde of Murray Hill Records. They fought and separated continually. Frankie told Elizabeth that Zola and I arent doing anything; its just a motherly relationship, Elizabeth testified in court. Others still do, however. Neither Zola nor Elizabeth could quite figure Emira Eagle Lymon, the 48-year-old third wife from Augusta, Ga. Frankie marrying a schoolteacher? The Happenings' 45. It teaches him responsibility and how to stand on his own two feet. When she and Frankie fought about it, Elizabeth told the court, he pulled a gun on her and fled. DAPHNE, AL 36526. with Frankie Lymon, and they have filed their own federal suit against Levy et al., with Emira also named as a defendant. Next comes the feisty Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. No one foresaw that the people who grew up with the music would refuse to relinquish it, repeatedly recycling it into movie sound tracks and albums, cover versions, oldies compilations and TV commercials. It was Rubin who, several years ago, came to the conclusion that Lymon's estate was not receiving appropriate royalties. Next comes the feisty Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Elizabeth, 43, of Philadelphia, claims she married Lymon in Alexandria, Va., in 1964, and that the couple had a child who died. A memorial service. The sum, he said, "might have been $1,500. If none of the women is Frankie's widow, the surviving members of his family stand to inherit. "She never disputed his role in the creation and authorship of this song," her attorney says. Zola Taylor Lymon, now 50, one of the original Platters, had flown in from Los Angeles. When he died of a drug overdose in 1968, just past his 25th birthday, he left behind a marital history worthy of a man several times his age. She'd come with two girlfriends to meet her onetime idol. Elizabeth Waters - Director STEM Outreach - The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | LinkedIn Elizabeth Waters Director STEM Outreach at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of. She says he didn't mean to hurt her, and blames his behavior on his addictions. Taylor's attorneys could not be reached for comment. I loved him like a brother.". McCracken said his client "has a strong religious background and beliefs, so I don't think she'll be devastated, but I know she's disappointed to say the least. He was a charmer, they all agree on that much. The Teenagers, too, have filed a federal suit saying they're entitled to their share of the proceeds regardless of who Lymon's widow is. The signs were plain, she says now, that Lymon was floundering, working only intermittently, addicted to drugs and probably to alcohol as well. It was Rubin who, several years earlier, came to the conclusion that Lymons estate was not receiving appropriate royalties. Levy was the head of Roulette Records, the independent label that bought out the Gee label which originally released the record. He recorded other songs, alone and with his group the Teenagers, but none has inspired the same affection. He was previously married to Emira Lymon, Zola Taylor and Elizabeth Waters. He is skeptical, too, about some of the harrowing descriptions of Lymon that have surfaced during the legal jousting. He lived for 26 years, was a star for one and a half of them, and left behind a miserable financial and legal mess and three wounded women. I know its been good for me.. Friday, November 06 2020. She's going to call it "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?". What was there about Frankie Lymon? -- a classic bit of doo-wop doggerel with Lymon credited as coauthor -- are murky. The stone was dedicated by his fans and friends on February 27, 1988, the 20th anniversary of Frankie's death and one month before the opening arguments in the case that would determine his legal wife and rightful heir. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. He had the looks; he had the voice; he had the moves. He seemed clean during her pregnancy in 1963 and he was genuinely shaken, Elizabeth says, when their daughter Francine died shortly after her birth. Elizabeth may have had the hardest time of it. Lymon and his group followed up with three more hits in 1956 and another in 1957. Last in line is Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon), a demure, well-bred Southern educator. Elizabeth, now 46, says she's been born again, but she still strives for glamor, her skirt fashionably above the knee, her fingernails long and orange. Although most of Rubin's cases don't wind up in court, the allegations Emira made are not unusual. It didnt last long, however. Elizabeth Waters Lymon, Elizabeth also acknowledged in court that she started using heroin and cocaine at this point. Kenneth Turan is the former film critic for the Los Angeles Times. Why Do Fools Fall in Love With Frankie Lymon is more like it. Emira testified in Surrogate Court that her arrangement called for any money recovered through her suit to be shared 50-50 with Rubin, after expenses and legal fees, which had already reached a substantial subtotal. But "I couldn't get my hands on him, couldn't find him." This time his bride was Emira Eagle, an educated, churchgoing elementary school teacher who lived with her family in nearby Augusta. Borstein, Levy's attorney, says the charges are "complete speculation; there's absolutely no proof.". The essence of their dispute was which of the marriages was legally binding, given a certain laxity in some quarters about divorce. Hell, the boy had so many needle marks on him, I thought he was a God-damned . An employee of a furniture store in north Philadelphia, she was in South Carolina for a family funeral. Rubin's 200 or so clients, from the Del Vikings to the Coasters, constitute an honor roll of early rock 'n' roll. The sum, he says, "might have been $1,500. Paralleling the spectacle of these three women battling over Lymons heritage is the way different elements of this film, directed by Nava from a script by Tina Andrews, are in conflict with one another. A pop record might have seemed disposable before the rise of the nostalgia industry. She and Frankie became teenaged lovers in 1956 while they were on an Alan Freed bus tour of 81 one-nighters, each performing with their group along with an all-star cast. According to Spans reporting, Emira paid the $2,000 bill. "I'm not a person to hold a grudge. For his part, Rubin's not opposed to generating new income from old music. Lymon's work had largely been reduced to lip-syncing at record hops; he said Zola could help get him some gigs in Los Angeles. She knew a soldier., Frankie was interviewed by The Augusta Chronicle while he was stationed at Ft. Gordon. Depending on how the judge rules, the decision may reactivate a federal suit to wrest Lymon's royalties and publishing rights from the record industry executive who claims to own them. Her divorce from Phillips was not finalized until 1965. Your email address will not be published. "I'd have killed him, I was so angry," she says. Obituary. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. He was characterized as The Octopus by Varietymagazine for his far-reaching control and power in the record industry and his connections to organized crime. Her only marriage lasted 4.1 years. That eventually led to singing on street corners with friends and being discovered at age 12 by George Goldner of GEE Records. When a touring musical about Lymon's life came to the Imperial Theater in May of 2013, the cast invited Bryant to be the honored guest with her family and took photos with her after the show. Elizabeth 'Mickey' Waters : You see, y'all gotta understand. Nava, whose credits besides Selena include My Family and El Norte, is given to pitching things as broadly as the law allows, and what Fools is most reminiscent of is love story comics from the 1950s with titles like Realistic Romances and Teen-Age Temptations.. Get our L.A. But the case may not end there, of course. Who wrote "Why Do Fools Fall in Love"? Elizabeth Waters was not yet divorced when she married Lymon, but the marriage became lawful once her first husbands divorce was finalized. Emira came to New York to arrange for Frankies funeral mass and burial. Unfortunately, shes also involved in the films least convincing area, the jarring sections that deal with the troubles brought on by Lymons habit. It also dooms, at least for now, the hopes of singer Zola Mae Taylor of Los Angeles, the female member of the original Platters, and Emira Eagle, a schoolteacher from Augusta, Ga., each of whom had claimed in court that she was Lymon's widow and heir. He then called Elizabeth and urged her to join him. Elizabeth's lawyers maintain her marriage is valid, which means that neither Zola's nor Emira's can be. In 1984, as the original copyright term of Why Do Fools Fall In Love was expiring, Emira Eagle Lymon brought suit in the U.S. District Court in New York against Morris Levy, his record label, and his publishing company. 1, "that would draw people to him.". It was painfully revealed in court testimony, however, that Frankie Lymon, for all his talent, was a bigamist, hustler, liar, and thief. Elizabeth testified that she did not object. Elizabeth, now 46, says she's been born again, but she still strives for glamor, her skirt fashionably above the knee, her fingernails long and orange. 1/28/23, noon until 2pm service at Small's Mortuary. Yet just over a year later, Lymon would be found dead in his grandmothers bathroom from drug abuse. Whie serving at Ft. Gordon in Georgia, Frankie married again. His in the end was a wasted life ruined by drugs. "Frankie Lymon just transcended all the other doo-wop groups," says Bob Hyde, whose Murray Hill label reissued the Teenagers' recordings last year. Zola and Elizabeth didn't get close to Emira; she didn't have anything much to say to them, either. Elizabeths attorneys argued in response that she and Frankie lived in Philadelphia and therefore established a common-law marriage under Pennsylvania law. According to Paula Span, her sisters boyfriend introduced them, and soon after, Emira was cooking meals for Frankie and they were shopping for wedding rings. Elizabeth Lymon said in court papers that she married Lymon on Jan. 23, 1964, in Alexandria, Va., and had his daughter, Gloria Francine, who died shortly after birth in 1965. Elizabeth Lymon says she married Lymon on Jan. 23, 1964, in Alexandria, Va., and bore him a daughter the following year. That wasn't his style. The Platters. Copyright document.write(new Date().getFullYear()), Michigan Rock and Roll Legends. There may be further delays, though, while that executive faces federal extortion charges. Emiras Frankie Lymon is not this drunken bum, Pomeroy said. So the trial went forward. Sound Veda Campell. Waters bore Lymon's only known child, a daughter who died shortly after birth. It was engraved with the words, In Memory Of Frankie Lymon Sept. 30, 1942 - Feb. 27, 1968 "We Promise To Remember". Paula Span reported that Frankie and Elizabeth got married in Alexandria, Virginia, in early 1964. Zola Taylor Lymon. Heres the glamorous Zola Taylor (Halle Berry), a member of the Platters, one of early rocks supergroups. The way '50s singer Frankie Lymon is presented in "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is "mostly true. His was a wasted life, and he was so talented., Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. He was the . Zola and Elizabeth declined, but say they were willing to accept an equal, three-way split. Span wrote that Frankie was a soldier for most of his brief marriage to Emira. She and Frankie began living together in 1962, she testified. They had been married for 4.1 years. "Knowing the facts like I know them, I feel confident there will be an appeal," McCracken predicted. At one point, Levy owned more than 90 companies that employed 900 people.These included record pressing plants, tape-duplicating plants, a distribution company, a prominent New England chain of record stores, and numerous record labels. Levy declined direct comment of the Lymon matter. LYMON REESE OBITUARY. co-starring Halle Barry, Lela Rochon and Vivica A. She has never remarried. He once told a magazine interviewer that he'd been a pimp since he was 10. As a result, they fought and separated numerous times. "Kids didn't know about royalties," says Bob Hyde of Murray Hill Records. Its a mark of how shallow Fools is that even as gifted an actor as Tate (excellent in Menace II Society and Dead Presidents) cant turn Lymon into anything more than a cipher. That case can now proceed, their attorney says. Unfortunately for Zola, she was unable to locate records documenting her Mexican wedding to Frankie, or documentation of her Mexican divorce from her previous marriage (her second). The fact came to notice from a judge during a trial where three middle-aged women (Ash Taylor, Elizabeth Waters, and Amira Eagle) spoke about their miseries. Eagle's New York counsel Ira Greenberg agreed that his "current inclination" was to appeal. She is attempting to recover all the royalties from the date of the record's release because -- she alleges -- neither Levy nor his predecessor as cowriter (George Goldner, who discovered and recorded the Teenagers) is actually an author. Id have killed him, I was so angry, Zola told Span. There was nothing in writing in regards to the fundraisers or purchasing the headstone, Olb said. According to Paula Span, people sometimes compared Frankie with the young Michael Jackson, who also knew how to combine innocence and knowingness. The Surrogate Court judge hearing the widowhood case has been pushing for a settlement. Music Stephen James Taylor. ", Doo-wop historian Philip Groia, author of "They All Sang on the Corner," attended one of Alan Freed's legendary rock 'n' roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount in the spring of 1956. But he will apparently have little trouble with Elizabeth Waters. Neither Zola nor Elizabeth could quite. ", But in 1984 (as the original copyright term of the song was expiring) Emira Eagle Lymon brought suit in U.S. District Court in New York against Levy, his attorney, his record label and his publishing company. Unfortunately for Elizabeth's claims to the estate, she was then still wed to one Charles Phillips, whom she'd married when she was 16. It is copyrighted in the names of Frankie Lymon and Morris Levy, head of Roulette Records, an independent label that bought out the Gee label, which originally released the record. His bride was Emira Eagle, an elementary school teacher who lived with her family in nearby Augusta. Smalls Mortuary - Eastern Shore. I caught Frankie at a good time in his life. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? "The only thing Morris Levy had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago said. And while Fools ends with an on-screen disclaimer that it is a dramatization based upon certain historical events and the lives of real people, its inability to incorporate key elements of the real Lymon story hampers it dramatically. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon told The Chronicle. Frankie Lymon had been on his record label for most of his career, and Levy knew much more about the singer than Emira, who had only been with him for a year. The record company executive has other problems: He was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison for his conspiracy conviction arising from an FBI investigation of racketeering in the recording industry. Then he called Elizabeth and urged her to join him. Also Read:Family of Lorenzo Dominic Lavalle. Conscious of her stardom (Reporter: "Are you still performing in California?" They were married in June 1967 at the Beulah Grove Baptist Church, with 50 members of Emiras family in attendance and a reception afterward at the Capri Lounge. Levys attorney responded that the agreements with Elizabeth and Zola amounted to standard industry contracts. Both Elizabeth's and Zola's attorneys said that Emira offered their clients 20 percent (for Elizabeth) and 5 percent (for Zola) of the estate. She said he didn't mean to hurt her, and blamed his behavior on his addictions. , A thief turns to prostitution to help Lymon fund his drug addiction. , one of the women is Frankie 's widow, the surviving members of his family stand inherit... Up in new York to arrange for Frankies funeral mass and burial Ft. in... 'S can be 1956 and another in 1957 song, '' Santiago said of the Platters!.. Friday, November 06 2020 his brief marriage to Emira school by being on the radio Lymon credited coauthor... You see, y & # x27 ; Mickey & # x27 ; Mickey & # ;! Court judge hearing the widowhood case has been pushing for a settlement a person to hold grudge... In new York City, I was so angry, '' she says how to stand on his addictions and... And cocaine at this point Waters Lymon, but said they were to. Time of it tried recording on their own, with a new lead singer may not end,!, in early 1964 I never had much discipline, Lymon would be found in! 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